In the third part of his series following an undercover trip to Zimbabwe,
Justin Pearce talks to Zimbabweans who have lost their citizenship, years after
their parents or grandparents went there from neighbouring countries.

The children of non-Zimbabwean parents have lost their
citizenship

It takes 10
minutes to walk from the dirt road, to the place in the bush where about 30
people are camped out.

"They didn't know where to put us, because we have no rural home," one woman
explains. "Our grandparents came from Malawi."

In the wake of the government's crackdown on illegal buildings and unlicensed
traders, Zimbabweans of foreign parentage are finding themselves in a
particularly difficult situation.

The seven families living in the bush on the edge of Bulawayo have been there
since their homes in the Killarney informal settlement were destroyed by the
police in July.

Some people were not even aware they were classified as aliens

Human rights
activist

While thousands of
Zimbabweans who can trace their ancestry to a Zimbabwean rural village are being
transported to the countryside, those whose parents or grandparents were
immigrants are left in limbo.

"To say every Zimbabwean has a rural home is not true," says Alouis Chaumba,
head of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe.

"Some are the grandchildren of people who came here during the Federation."

Migration

In the 1950s and early 1960s, Zimbabwe - then Southern Rhodesia - was part of
a federation with Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and Nyasaland (now Malawi).

People from those countries, as well as from neighbouring Mozambique,
migrated to seek work - many of them on white-owned farms - in the more
developed Southern Rhodesia.

They and
their children became integrated into Zimbabwean society, and most acquired
Zimbabwean citizenship.

But a change in the citizenship law shortly before the 2002 presidential
elections meant that being born in Zimbabwe no longer automatically conferred
nationality.

Zimbabweans who had one or both parents born outside the country were
reclassified as aliens, unless they formally renounced claims to foreign
nationality.

Although most observers believe the law was designed to disenfranchise
whites, it also affected the status of Zimbabweans who have roots in other
African countries.

"Some people were not even aware they were classified as aliens," one human
rights activist says.

The loss of citizenship has made the future still less certain for those who
have lost their homes, particularly the younger generation.

Stranded

Among the older people who can remember life in another country, some feel
that the best option is to go back to where they came from.

"I have been working here since 1953, first as a domestic cook," says Jose,
an elderly Mozambican whose home in Killarney squatter camp was destroyed two
months ago.

Only the oldest people still have links with neighbouring
countries

"In 1970 the man I
worked for left the country. After that I made a living by fishing - and then in
1984 I moved to the dump site, where business was much better."

He is referring to Ngozi Mine, a dumping ground outside Bulawayo where many
Killarney residents scratched out a living by recycling rubbish.

"Some of my relatives went back to Chimoio, in Mozambique. I would like to go
back - but I don't have the money or a passport," Jose says. "I would be so
thankful if I could go back."

But most of the so-called aliens have spent all their lives in Zimbabwe and
have lost contact with their roots in neighbouring countries.

No options

"I was born in Harare - my parents are from Mozambique," says Patience, the
23-year-old mother of two young children.

"My father came from Mozambique in 1956."

The youngest have nowhere else to
go

She and her 19-year-old
brother had been living in the Porta Farm settlement on the edge of Harare,
which the government destroyed in July.

From there, some people were trucked back to villages; others were dumped in
the Hopley Farm resettlement area on the opposite side of the capital.

For two weeks, the police denied access to humanitarian agencies who tried to
bring in the food and clean water that the settlement lacked.

"For those of us who had no rural home, the only option was to go to Hopley
Farm," Patience says.

As Zimbabwe careens out of control, Robert Mugabe and the
international community are both pointing fingers — mostly at each other. Todd
Moss and Michael Clemens of the Center for Global Development argue that
Zimbabwe’s current economic malaise has been made much worse by the country’s
political tensions and the mismanagement by those in
power.

imbabwe, once a vibrant and diversified economy, had been a hope for
Africa's future. Today, it is a country in deep crisis and the signs of collapse
are everywhere.

Political troubles and the abandonment of sensible economic policy
closed off the aid tap, scared away foreign investment and chased much of the
talented workforce away.

The economy has contracted in real terms in each of the past five years,
inflation is in triple digits, the local currency has lost 99% of its value and
almost half of the country faces food shortages.

Unsurprisingly, up to one-quarter of the population has fled the country.
Many of the "costs" of the recent economic collapse in humanitarian terms are
evident.

Zimbabwe's recent economic crisis is so deep that it has set the country back
more than half a century. In 1953, the average person living in then-Southern
Rhodesia had an average income of $760 per year (in constant 1990 U.S. dollars
at purchasing power parity rates). In mid-2005, the average Zimbabwean had
fallen back to that level, wiping out the income gains of the past 52 years.

Finding a scapegoat

The scale and speed of this income decline is unusual outside of a war
situation. In fact, the income losses in Zimbabwe have been greater than those
experienced during recent conflicts in Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of
Congo and Sierra Leone.

The government's frequent claims of external plots to destabilize Zimbabwe
encompass a long and increasingly irrational list of saboteurs, such the
International Monetary Fund, the British government and an international gay
conspiracy.

Placing blame

In occasional bouts of official schizophrenia, the government sometimes
combines these threats, such as President Robert Mugabe's public rant against
Tony Blair as the "the gay government of the gay United gay Kingdom."

Zimbabwe’s recent economic crisis is so deep that it has set the country
back more than half a century.

Another recent example is the claim in the Herald, a government mouthpiece,
that the United States, at the behest of the UK, is now controlling the weather
in order to cause a drought in Zimbabwe.

While these outbursts suggest either cynical propaganda or growing paranoia
among the leadership, they are simply not credible explanations of the crisis.

A less hysterical version of external blame could be related to the cutoff of
international aid. Certainly, donors have withdrawn hundreds of millions of
dollars in aid from Zimbabwe and the government could plausibly argue that this
precipitated the crisis and contributed to any additional infant deaths.

Doesn't hold water

An alternative explanation, and a favorite of President Mugabe (as well as
some relief organizations and even visiting IMF missions), is that severe
drought is primarily responsible for the collapse in output in Zimbabwe.

On the face of it, this seems possible, especially since so much of
Zimbabwe's economy is based on rain-fed agriculture and the country faces a
regular cycle of rainfall variability.

Testing this hypothesis

Economist Craig Richardson, using rainfall data from Zimbabwe's own
Department of Meteorology, has shown that this argument does not hold up to the
evidence. He shows that the "drought" between 2000 and 2001 was only about 22%
below average — and less severe than at least 12 other recent low-rainfall
periods.

Zimbabwe is a country in deep crisis and the signs of collapse are
everywhere. Up to one-quarter of the population has fled the
country.

More importantly, Richardson shows that the tight historical relationship
between GDP growth rates and rainfall cycles over two decades no longer held
after 1999. Indeed, when rainfall recovered, the economy continued to decline.

Comparing Zimbabwe to its neighbors, data suggest that rainfall patterns are
regional. Since 1948, there has never been a two-year period in which an
important drop in rainfall in Zimbabwe's maize-producing regions was not
associated with a corresponding drop in Zambia and Malawi as well.

Despite this pattern, Zimbabwe's decline in maize production has been
dramatically greater than its neighbors' over the past five years. National
maize production fell 74% from 1999 to 2004, while in Malawi it fell just 31%
and in Zambia it actually increased. Thus, it appears that Zimbabwe's unlucky
weather does not sufficiently account for its economic collapse.

Bungling along

If neither the drought, donor withdrawal nor nefarious economic plots explain
the depth and persistence of the crisis, this leaves few other plausible
culprits than misrule. In many ways, it seems obvious that Zimbabwe's current
economic difficulties are linked to specific government policy decisions.

Author Samantha Power even used Zimbabwe as an example of "how to kill a
country," suggesting ten ways in which Mugabe destroyed his country's economy.

Precipitous decline

The list of misgovernance is long. The policy of land seizures and the
chaotic disruption on the farms is likely the main reason the staple maize
production fell by three-quarters. This impacted rural incomes, exports and food
security. Indeed, Zimbabwe once exported food, but now requires massive food
aid.

The
income losses in Zimbabwe have been greater than those experienced during recent
conflicts in Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra
Leone.

In addition to the frontal attacks on agriculture, the rest of the economy
suffered from the undermining of property rights and absurd macroeconomic
management.

The government has run huge budget deficits (22% of GDP in 2000) and printed
money to cover the gaps — with the predictable results of high inflation (which
hit 620% in November 2003).

Overall, manufacturing has shrunk by 51% since 1997 and exports have fallen
by half in the past four years. Political troubles combined with the abandonment
of sensible economic policy also closed off most of the aid tap, scared away
most foreign investment and chased much of the talented workforce out of the
country.

Political motives

While many of these actions appear economically irrational, they may be
explained in a perverse political logic. It can hardly be a coincidence that the
economy began its precipitous fall just as the ruling party unleashed a wave of
political violence and repression directed against a rising opposition movement.

Most noticeably, the forcible appropriation of commercial farms seems
calculated to undermine the financial and popular support for the opposition.

Grim outlook

Unfortunately, the mismanagement and economic lunacy continues today.
Inflation remains in triple-digits, the 2005 budget includes a more than
tripling in public expenditure and the government clings to propaganda — such as
its implausible forecast of 28% growth in agriculture this year.

This suggests that — regardless of rain clouds or imaginary foreign scheming
— economic misrule will continue to cost Zimbabweans not only their children's
opportunities for a better life but, for many, any life at all.

Michael Clemens, a research fellow at the Center for Global Development,
co-authored this
report.

Assistance should be given in
small amounts and be monitored to ensure it is going to the people,
writes Lance Greyling.

The ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe has become a
divisive issue in South African politics. Everyone has a different opinion
on both the causes and the solutions to this crisis. What is not in dispute,
however, is that there certainly is a crisis in Zimbabwe and that South
Africa has a key role to play in helping resolving it.

The
humanitarian crisis is beyond question, with the United Nations reporting
that the latest "Operation Murambatsvina", meaning get rid of rubbish or
trash, has displaced more than 700 000 people and has affected the
livelihoods of 2.4 million more.

Refugees

This
humanitarian crisis has predictably also led to millions of Zimbabweans
seeking refuge in South Africa. Resolving this crisis is not only important
for Zimbabwe but for regional stability and our own country's future
prosperity.

The Independent Democrats have been outspoken against
the South African government's policy of quiet diplomacy. We have also
spoken out against the ongoing human rights abuses by Zanu-PF and its
promulgation of repressive laws restricting basic human
freedoms.

It was these laws and the political climate preceding the
last general elections that made it impossible for us to sanction them as
free and fair. Be that as it may, we now need to deal with the reality that
confronts us and find lasting solutions to this crisis.

In
dealing with Zimbabwe we also need to consider our own constraints and
ability to assist. On a political level, the perception has certainly been
that the South African government has been more supportive of, or biased
towards, Zanu-PF and that our role as an honest broker has been
compromised.

The ID believes that we can overcome this
constraint by pushing for a true national dialogue to take place in Zimbabwe
between not only Zanu-PF and the MDC but also all civil society groupings. A
lasting solution to this crisis can only be found through the Zimbabwean
people themselves. The ID believes, however, that South Africa can play a
pivotal role in ensuring that such a dialogue takes place.

Pressure

It is also necessary, however, for South Africa to
pressurise Zimbabwe, through constitutional reforms, into repealing the
numerous repressive laws that have been promulgated over the past few years
in order to change the political climate in that country.

The
other constraint that faces South Africa is our own socio-economic
challenges. Recently a national land summit was held, where among other
things it was reported that the government is devoting far too few resources
towards land reform, making it impossible for us to reach our target of 30%
redistribution by 2014.

The R3.5 billion that South Africa
is considering lending to Zimbabwe could just as easily be spent on trying
to resolve our own land issue.

To put it into perspective, this
amount of money would also employ 10 000 teachers for the next five years
and would enable the government to upscale the provision of anti-retrovirals
to HIV positive people by roughly five times. This loan to Zimbabwe,
therefore, represents a very real cost to South Africans.

The
ID believes, however, that the South African people feel a very real concern
for the suffering of the Zimbabwean people. South Africans would be prepared
to make a sacrifice if they knew that this money was going to be spent
directly on alleviating the suffering of the ordinary
Zimbabweans.

Many countries in Southern Africa, including
Zimbabwe, made tremendous sacrifices to help the struggle against apartheid
and it is only fair that we should help the Zimbabwean people in their time
of need. The ID would therefore support the granting of humanitarian
assistance, particularly for those displaced by "Operation
Murambatsvina".

Assurances

This assistance should
be given in small amounts and closely monitored to ensure that it really is
spent on the people of Zimbabwe. The South African government can follow the
admirable lead of the South African Council of Churches in this
regard.

The ID would, however, emphatically not support any payment
by South Africa of Zimbabwe's arrears to the International Monetary
Fund.

If Zimbabwe can default on a loan from the IMF then what
possible assurances will South African taxpayers have that it will not
default on a loan from South Africa. The loan is between Zimbabwe and the
IMF and it is up to those two parties to find a possible debt repayment
solution. South Africa simply cannot afford to become a lender of last
resort for countries who cannot repay their debts.

We feel
immense compassion for the people of Zimbabwe and we will resist the
temptation of turning this into an issue for our own political gain. It is
for that reason that we have requested a meeting with President Mbeki to
discuss the Zimbabwean crisis and the options that are open to us in
resolving it. Now is the time for all South Africans to unite around finding
a lasting resolution to the Zimbabwean crisis.

.. Lance
Greyling is a member of parliament and is the African affairs spokesman for
the Independent Democrats.

A survey by London-based ActionAid International shows
Operation Murambatsvina, the Zimbabwean government's campaign to demolish
unauthorized urban housing, had a much larger impact on the population that
previous studies had indicated.

The report, carried out in
collaboration with the Combined Harare Residents Association and the
Zimbabwe Peace Project, is based on interviews with more than 23,000 people
in Harare, the capital, and five other cities including Bulawayo, Mutare,
border town Beitbridge, tourist destination Victoria Falls, and Kariba, in
the northeast.

The report concludes that the the operation affected
nearly 1.2 million people, many more than the July report submitted by
United Nations special envoy Anna Tibaijuka to U.N. Secretary General Kofi
Annan, which was highly critical of the operation.

In an interview
conducted by reporter Ndimyake Mwakalyele of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe,
ActionAid's Zimbabwe program director, Ian Mashingaidze, explained the
differences between the latest survey and the Tibaijuka report.

Since
the Tibaijuka report came out last month, U.N. organizations have been
trying to reach out to those left destitute by Operation Murambatsvina, but
have found it difficult to do so, especially in the countryside. U.N.
organizations and their local partners also have security concerns, U.N. and
other humanitarian officials say.

The U.N. resident coordinator for
Zimbabwe, Dr. Agostinho Zacarias, told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that he is now working to establish a memorandum of
understanding with the Harare government that would provide for unrestricted
access to the many thousands in need of humanitarian aid.

With an
International Monetary Fund assessment team in Harare, the government made
an urgent appeal Tuesday to South Africa to pay $175 million to the IMF on
its behalf with no conditions attached, official sources said. Unless
Zimbabwe arranges to make payment on its arrears to the organization, it
could soon lose its membership.

A reserve bank official speaking on
condition of anonymity said Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa and Reserve
Bank Governor Gideon Gono appealed to Pretoria after President Robert Mugabe
made it clear he would not accept political conditions which South Africa
has indicated will be attached to any financial bailout package.

The
conditions include opening talks with the political opposition in Zimbabwe,
and the rescinding of laws on public order and the media which are seen as
repressive. The South African government is also recommending constitutional
reforms.

The central bank source and reports elsewhere said the IMF team,
which will consult directly with President Mugabe later in the week, will
also urge him to accept the terms Pretoria has put on the table. Yet his
ruling ZANU-PF party Tuesday pressed ahead in parliament with constitutional
revisions that will tighten its grip on power.

South African Finance
Ministry spokesman Logan Wort declined to confirm or deny that Zimbabwe
sought the unconditional $175 million loan. He said talks
continue.

Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe spoke with
economist Iraj Abedian of the Pan-African Advisory Service in Johannesburg
about Harare's chances of getting the loan it so desperately needs from
Pretoria without political concessions.

Should the IMF team's report
to management in Washington lead to the expulsion of the country from the
Bretton Woods organization, serious consequences could follow, says
economist Eric Bloch of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, an advisor to the central
bank.

Mr. Bloch told reporter Chris Gande of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe
that state assets, including Air Zimbabwe passenger planes, could be
impounded on foreign soil.

According to the study, the
citizens of Denmark, Malta and Switzerland are the happiest in the world. They
scored eight points on a scale of 10.

People living in these three
countries came at the top of a list of 90 countries which were included in a
sample survey about how "people living in these countries enjoy their
lives".

Iceland and Ireland came in second position with a score of 7.8
points.

The process of ranking the citizens of these countries in a list
of international happiness was based on a study conducted by Professor Ruud Van
Hoven, at the Erasmus University located in the Netherlands over the last 20
years.

The patterns in Denmark point to an increase in the levels of
satisfaction with life, whereas the indications in Switzerland and Malta point
to a decrease in satisfaction.

Van Hoven argues that the model of the
northern European country fulfils all of the five main criteria of a society
that enjoys good standards of living, in relation to the levels of income,
democracy and good governance, the low levels of corruption and the high margins
of freedom.

Armenia and Ukraine, Moldova, Zimbabwe and Tanzania came at
the bottom of the list, with Tanzania scoring a mere 3.2.

Editor's Comment:
Now, if you are a Zimbabwean reading this, we urge you not to take it too
seriously as you will only pull us even further down the
joy-scale.